There’s a lot to like in Lambeth’s Transport Strategy that has just become public. The Strategy is largely unchanged from the draft we saw last year but the implementation plans are new and add a lot more detail.
The Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) implementation plan includes a map that sets a path for borough wide LTNs.
“This plan takes the highway network as a whole and considers which roads are suitable for carrying non-local traffic and which are not. This is the basis for defining neighbourhood areas, with the default position being that streets within each neighbourhood should only carry motor traffic generated by the local residents and businesses within it.”
The first three LTNs (in addition to those that will be created through the Brixton Liveable Neighbourhood) are identified as the Fentiman Road area (between Vauxhall, Oval and Stockwell), Streatham Hill and Streatham Wells (both to the east of the A23). The aim is to deliver these within the next three years, along with at least one more LTN within the Brixton Liveable Neighbourhood project.
Councillor Claire Holland, the cabinet member for environment and clean air, said ‘Our roads are dominated by rat-running, mostly by those who don’t live in Lambeth. Our streets need to be safer and more enjoyable for all’.
The Healthy Routes plan sets quality targets at LCC’s “Go Dutch” traffic volumes – that should mean protected space on main roads and the end of “quietway” type routes that are anything but quiet.
It also sets out 10 miles of routes to be delivered in the next three years – including connections between key town centres that will make a real difference to getting about the borough by bike.
Lambeth has expressed good intentions about cycling in the past but these plans feel like a step change in ambition – now we just need to start seeing delivery.
The strategy and implementation plan have been published as part of the papers for this month’s council cabinet meeting where they will be formally adopted.
